


Open to Possibilities

by Titti



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Challenge Response, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29401533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titti/pseuds/Titti
Summary: Severus and Remus meet again on Christmas Eve.
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Severus Snape
Kudos: 14





	Open to Possibilities

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Snapecase at Livejournal.

"I know you're here." Remus stood up and turned around. He didn't need to raise his voice in the quiet and dark cemetery. It was Christmas Eve and the living were busy celebrating, forgetting their dead for a while. Neither Remus nor Severus were normal people, which explained their presence here in front of the graves of Lily and James Potter.

Severus stepped out from the shadow and moved closer. "I didn't know you'd be here." He went to Lily's grave. He hadn't bothered with flowers that would die in the cold of winter, but instead he pressed a vial into the ground and loosened the cork, letting the fragrance of a spring bouquet come out. It would only last a few days, but he was working to make it last longer. 

"That smells nice. Lily would like that," Remus said with a little smile.

"I know or I wouldn't have bothered." Severus took out his wand and cast a spell cleaning up the grave from leaves and dirt, satisfied that he'd done what he could, he turned to go.

Remus turned his head to look at Severus. "She'd be upset that you don't bother with James' grave. Don't you think it's time to let go of your jealousy?"

Severus froze, before turning around slowly to face Remus. "Upset with me? I tried to protect her as best I could, while her husband's friends failed her. Worse, they betrayed her and got her killed. I think she'd have more important things to focus on if she could come back to life."

Remus closed his eyes. "I know we failed her- failed them. We all trusted Sirius, and we shouldn't have."

"You're right. You shouldn't have. You all knew who he was, what he was capable of. He sent me to my death and didn't even blink. Sixteen and he had no remorse, no sense of guilty, but you… you had to believe him over me. You trusted him over me, and this is where it led us," he said, looking at the grave. "She was my best friend. I loved her and I will always love her, because she was like a sister to me, but you- I thought you understood what I felt about you."

"I was stupid, all right? Is that what you want me to say? Because I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, if it makes you believe that I am sorry. For everything. For what Sirius did in school. For believing that he hadn't meant to hurt you. For trusting him. For being so afraid of what we could become that I took the easy way out." Remus took a few steps closer and laid his hand on Severus' arm. "I never meant to hurt you."

"Then you should have told me. You should have trusted me with your secret, but instead you trusted them," Severus spat out.

Remus shook his head. "I've never told anyone. I don't know how Dumbledore knew, and I didn't tell them. They figured it out, just like you did. Maybe I'm weak, but I've never been able to say the words. I wish I had told you, maybe things wouldn't have gone this way. Or maybe they would have. They stopped trusting me, all of them."

"Because you started working with the other werewolves. Those tiny minds of theirs couldn't comprehend that subterfuge is vital in a war," Severus said.

"How did you know?" Remus asked, confused. "How is it that you figured it out when we haven't spoken in years and my best friends never understood?"

Severus hinted a smile. "Because your friends were incapable of any intelligent thought and lived life reacting instead of planning. So certain in their beliefs, so convinced that I'd be the one to turn to the dark side. I must say that they got what they deserved. If they hadn't dragged Lily in their lives, I'd be celebrating."

"The dark side?" Remus said, smiling a little. "Always quoting films, making it sound like something deep and confusing all those poor purebloods."

"You always knew, though, and never revealed what I was doing," Severus pointed out.

"I was being nice. Or maybe it was a little complicity among those of us who come from the outside." He smiled. "I wouldn't ask you to be nice all the time, but it's Christmas Eve, can't you try to be nice about James?"

"This is me being nice. If I weren't nice, I'd have an actual party for what happened to your friends," he answered, before waving a hand. "Enough of this. We'll never agree on your friends and the past can't be fixed.

Remus pulled back. "You're right, but there's always the future."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Pray tell, what are the great plans for this brilliant future of yours? Should I remind you that we are not rich or famous? We aren't the Potters or the Blacks or the Malfoys. I'll be a teacher in a school with children I despise and you- what exactly have you been doing?" 

Remus sighed at the question. "You can be happy without money, but I've been out of the country. I… met other werewolves. You never know-"

"When the Dark Lord will come back. So this is Albus' doing," Severus guessed. 

"He confides in you," Remus said a little surprised. "I didn't know he trusted you."

Severus shrugged. "I guess Black's actions made him rethink a few things." He didn't mention the information he had passed and the fact that he was on a leash just as much as Remus was.

"It's why you are at Hogwarts," Remus said. "That makes sense. I always thought it was strange that you'd want to teach. We both know how much you suffer fools."

"So here we are, four years after their deaths, and still fighting a war. I think Albus is right. He will come back, and it'll be tied to the boy." Severus hated the idea that Lily's child would be used like a pawn and he was still trying to find a solution long before the boy would have to be involved, but with each passing year, it became harder to believe that they would manage to vanquish the Dark Lord before Harry came to Hogwarts.

"There's not much fighting to do on Christmas Eve." Remus looked at the headstones again. "I simply wanted to see them and Peter."

"What are your plans for the night?" Severus asked.

Remus hesitated, and Severus couldn’t blame him. His questions always had a reason behind them, but Remus finally answered. "Finding some empty barn where I can sleep. Not much happens at Christmas. Then Boxing Day and then the full. I'll leave a few days after. I need the time to get better or I'll splinch myself trying to Apparate to the French countryside."

"I'm going home now. There's food and you look like you need plenty of it," Severus said.

Remus hinted a smile. "Is that an invitation?" The smile disappeared when Severus nodded. "What about your mother?"

"She has reconciled with her parents now that my father is dead. She moved back into their house. They tolerate me, but they clearly don't like me and I have no time for snob purebloods who think they are better than me by virtue of their parentage," Severus said. "I'll visit her for a few hours in the morning, but that's about it. I live in Spinner's End during the holidays, but it's otherwise empty and it has two bedrooms. You don't have to sleep in a barn unless you truly enjoy living with animals."

"Are you- You're serious," Remus said.

"It is Christmas and I can be nice," Severus said with a smirk. 

"Is that all this is?" Remus asked.

Severus shrugged. "Whatever we were ended that night, but you mentioned this bright future of yours. I don't know if I believe in it, but I won't close the door on any possibility. I am a Slytherins after all."

Remus closed his fingers around Severus' hand. "If I understand correctly, we are an option."

"We could be. Let's start with Christmas dinner, and then we see," Severus said. He should know better, Albus would likely interfere with their lives and ruin everything again, but for a few days, around Christmas, he could let himself believe that they could happen.


End file.
